System and method for processing and displaying quantity information during user-configurable time periods

ABSTRACT

A system and method for displaying quantity related information determined for a plurality of time periods are described. According to one method, a trader may define one or more time periods for which a trading application may determine traded quantities, traded buys, traded sells, or other quantity related information at a plurality of price levels during the defined time periods. The trading application may then graphically display the quantities for each time period in relation to the static axis of prices. The method further includes periodically updating the displayed traded quantity to reflect the quantity during the defined time period, where the quantity is updated based on subsequent market updates that are received from the exchange for the tradable object.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards electronic trading. Morespecifically, the present invention is directed towards processing anddisplaying information related to the traded volume associated with atradable object.

BACKGROUND

Trading methods have evolved from a manually intensive process to atechnology enabled, electronic platform. With the advent of electronictrading, a user or trader can be in virtually direct contact with themarket, from practically anywhere in the world, performing nearreal-time transactions, and without the need to make personal contactwith a broker. Sometimes, electronic trading systems are also convenientfor brokers or other market participants on the floor at an exchange forreceiving market information.

Electronic trading is generally based on a host exchange, one or morecomputer networks, and client devices. In general, the host exchangeincludes one or more centralized computers to form the electronic heart.Its operations typically include order matching, maintaining order booksand positions, price information, and managing and updating a databasethat records such information. The host exchange is also equipped withan external interface that maintains uninterrupted contact to the clientdevices and possibly other trading-related systems.

Using client devices, market participants or traders link to the hostexchange through one or more networks. A network is a group of two ormore computers or devices linked together. There are many types of wiredand wireless networks such as local area networks and wide areanetworks. Networks can also be characterized by topology, protocol, andarchitecture. For example, some market participants may link to the hostthrough a direct connection such as a T1 or ISDN. Some participants maylink to the host exchange through direct connections and through othercommon network components such as high-speed servers, routers, andgateways. The Internet, a well-known collection of networks andgateways, can be used to establish a connection between the clientdevice and the host exchange. There are many different types of networksand combinations of network types known in the art that can link tradersto the host exchange.

Regardless of the way in which a connection is established, softwarerunning on the client devices allows market participants to log onto oneor more exchanges and participate in at least one market. A clientdevice is a computer such as a personal computer, laptop computer,hand-held computer, and so forth that has network access. In general,client devices run software that creates specialized interactive tradingscreens. Trading screens enable market participants to obtain marketquotes, monitor positions, and submit orders to the host.

Generally, when an order is submitted to a host exchange, the hostchecks the limits of the order, for example price and quantity, andprioritizes the order with other orders of the same price. When buy andsell order prices cross in the market, a trade occurs and information ofwhich is then relayed in some fashion to the client devices. In fact,the host exchange publishes a data feed to the client devices so thatthe traders can have access to the most current market information.

Market information commonly includes information related to the insidemarket and market depth. The inside market is the lowest sell price inthe market and the highest buy price in the market at a particular pointin time. Market depth refers to quantity available at the inside marketand can refer to quantity available at other prices away from the insidemarket. The quantity available at a given price level is usuallyprovided by the host exchange in aggregate sums. In other words, a hostexchange usually provides the total buy or the total sell quantityavailable in the market at a particular price level in its data feed.The extent of the market depth available to a trader usually depends onthe host exchange. For instance, some host exchanges provide marketdepth for an infinite number of price levels, while some provide onlyquantities associated with the inside market, and others may provide nomarket depth at all. Additionally, host exchanges can offer other typesof market information such as the last traded price (LTP), the lasttraded quantity (LTQ), and/or order fill information.

To profit in electronic markets, however, market participants must beable to assimilate large amounts of data, including market information,and react to the received data more quickly than other competing marketparticipants. It is therefore desirable to offer tools that can assist amarket participant to make desirable trades at the most favorable pricesin a speedy and accurate manner.

Thus, it is desirable for electronic trading applications to offer toolsthat can assist a trader in trading in an electronic tradingenvironment, help the trader make trades at the most favorable prices ina speedy and accurate manner, and offer tools that can assist a traderto view market trends and current market conditions. In the followingdetailed description, a method and interface for displaying informationrelated to the traded quantities are described. These tools, asdescribed below, provide advantages to a trader in an electronic tradingenvironment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention are described herein with referenceto the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an example of a network configuration for a communicationsystem utilized to access one or more exchanges;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a trading interface that may beused for submitting orders to a market according to one exampleembodiment;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method for displaying tradedquantity information for a plurality of time periods according to oneexample embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a trading interface that may beused for displaying traded quantity information for a plurality of userconfigurable time periods according to one example embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a trading interface that may beused for displaying traded quantity information for a plurality of userconfigurable time periods according to another embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a trading interface that may beused for displaying traded quantity information related to buys andsells for a plurality of user configurable time periods;

FIG. 7 is an example embodiment of a trading interface that may be usedto display traded quantities at a plurality of price levels where eachtraded quantity during a user configured time period may be identifiedas a buy or a sell;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a trading interface that may beused for displaying traded quantity information for a plurality of userconfigurable time periods using a candlestick graphical representationaccording to one embodiment; and

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a trading interface that may beused for displaying traded quantity information related to buy and sellsfor a plurality of user configurable time periods using a candlestickgraphical representation according to another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)

It is beneficial to offer tools that can assist a trader in trading inan electronic trading environment and help the trader to view markettrends and current market conditions in a speedy and accurate manner.According to one embodiment described hereinafter, a trader may defineone or more time periods, and a trading application, based on data feedsprovided from an exchange, may determine a total traded quantityassociated with a tradable object at a plurality of price levels thathave been traded during the defined time period(s). The tradingapplication may then graphically display the traded quantities,associated with at least one time period, for each of the plurality ofprice levels in association with a static axis of prices. It should beunderstood that the display could show consolidated prices so that forinstance, a cell could correspond to a range of prices instead of oneprice. More information on price consolidation may be found in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 09/971,087, filed on Oct. 5, 2001, “ClickBased Trading with Intuitive Grid Display of Market Depth and PriceConsolidation,” the contents of which are fully incorporated herein. Thetrading application may then continually update the displayed tradedquantities for the user-defined time period(s) based on subsequentupdates being received from the exchange.

While the present invention is described hereinafter with reference toillustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should beunderstood that the present invention is not limited thereto. Thosehaving ordinary skill of art will recognize that many additionalmodifications and embodiments are possible as well.

FIG. 1 shows an example system that may be used to implement networkconnection between an exchange and client terminals. It should beunderstood, however, that this and other arrangements described hereinare set forth for purposes of example only. As such, those skilled inthe art will appreciate that other arrangements and other elements(e.g., machines, interfaces, functions, orders of functions, etc.) canbe used instead, and some elements may be omitted altogether. Further,as in most communications applications, those skilled in the art willappreciate that many of the elements described herein are functionalentities that may be implemented as discrete or distributed componentsor in conjunction with other components, and in any suitable combinationand location.

Still further, various functions described herein as being performed byone or more entities may be carried out by hardware, firmware and/orsoftware logic. For instance, a processor executing a set of machinelanguage instructions stored in memory may execute various functions.Provided with the present disclosure, those skilled in the art canreadily prepare appropriate computer instructions to perform suchfunctions.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the illustrated system includes a hostexchange 100, a gateway 102, and a client terminal 104. It should beunderstood that even though the system illustrates only one clientterminal 102 communicating with a single host exchange 100, the clientterminal 102 could also communicate with more than one host exchange viathe gateway 102 or other gateways corresponding to each host exchange.Further, it should be understood that the example system is not limitedto a single client terminal. In an alternative embodiment, a tradinghouse including a plurality of client terminals may connect to the hostexchange 100 via the gateway 102.

The host exchange 100 may include the Chicago Board of Trade (“CBOT”),the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange(“CME”), Xetra (a German stock exchange), or the European derivativesmarket (“Eurex”). However, it should be understood that the exchangescould also include any other existing or later developed exchanges.Further, it should be understood that the preferred embodiments are notlimited to any particular network architecture or trading application,but rather may be applied with utility on any client device in anynetwork that can be used for electronic trading.

The host exchange 100 connects to the client terminal 104 via thegateway 102. The gateway 102, as is known in the art, may include one ormore computers, or software programs, and receives information from thehost exchange 100 and sends the information down to the client terminal104. Preferably, the gateway 102 receives data from the host exchange100 and converts the received data to a format compatible with theprotocols used on the client terminal 104. Alternatively, the conversioncould be performed at the client terminal 104.

The host exchange 100 provides market information to the client terminal102, and may relay this information, or a portion thereof, collectivelycalled a data feed 106, over a network to market participants at theclient terminal 104. A data feed from one exchange may contain differentinformation representing different tradable objects than another datafeed from a second exchange. In one embodiment, a data feed may includemarket information related to all tradable objects being traded at thehost exchange 100. In such an embodiment, when the client terminal 104receives such a data feed, a trading application on the client terminal104 may extract from the received data feed information related to oneor more tradable objects selected by a user at the client terminal 104.Alternatively, the gateway 102 could be configured to extract theinformation related to tradable objects selected by a particular user atthe client terminal 104, and could send only the relevant information tothe client terminal 102. Further, alternatively, the host exchange 100may have knowledge of tradable object(s) that were selected by a user atthe client terminal 104, and may provide to the client terminal 104 onlymarket data related to the selected tradable objects.

As used herein, the term “tradable object” refers simply to anythingthat can be traded with a quantity and/or price. It includes, but is notlimited to, all types of tradable objects such as financial products,which can include, for example, stock options, bonds, futures, currency,and warrants, as well as funds, derivatives, and collections of theforegoing, and all types of commodities, such as grains, energy, andmetals. The tradable object may be “real,” such as products that arelisted by an exchange for trading, or “synthetic,” such as a combinationof real products that is created by a user. Also, a tradable objectcould actually be a combination of other tradable objects, such as aclass of tradable objects.

The data feed 106 may include information relating to prices andquantities of one or more tradable objects. For example, the data feed106 could provide data corresponding to quantities at inside marketprices, data corresponding to quantity at different prices, total tradedquantities for the entire trading day that are updated throughout theday, last traded price, last traded quantity, and other information. Thetrading application may derive additional information, such asquantities or prices based on the data received from the exchange, andother data inputs. The inside market is the highest bid price (“HBP”)and the lowest ask price (“LAP”) for a tradable object. Data feeds fromsome exchanges may also provide data related to the market depth. Theextent of the market depth available to a trader depends on the hostexchange, and some exchanges provide an infinite market depth, whileothers provide only quantities associated with the inside market andsome may provide no market depth.

The client terminal 104 may include any computing terminal, such as apersonal computer, a handheld device, or any other currently existing orlater developed computing terminals. Further, it should be understoodthat the client terminal 104 may connect to the gateway 102 via wirelesscommunication links, wireline communication links, or a combinationthereof. In general, according to the embodiments described herein, theclient terminal 104 is a computer that allows a trader to participate inthe market hosted at the exchange 100, and uses software that createsspecialized trading screens on the client terminal. The range andquality of features available to the trader on his or her clientterminal's screen may vary according to the specific softwareapplication being run on the client terminal 106. Among other functionalfeatures, a trading screen being run on the client terminal 106 mayenable traders to enter and execute orders, obtain market quotes, andmonitor positions. However, it should be understood that, in addition tointeractive trading screens, the client terminal 104 may also runautomated non-interactive types of trading applications.

A commercially available trading application that allows a user to tradein a system like the one shown in FIG. 1 is X_TRADER® from TradingTechnologies International, Inc. of Chicago, Ill. X_TRADER® alsoprovides an electronic trading interface, referred to as MD Trader™, inwhich working orders and/or bid and ask quantities are displayed inassociation with a static axis of prices. However, the preferredembodiments are not limited to any particular product that performstranslation, storage and display functions.

The example embodiments for displaying information related to the lasttraded quantity related to a tradable object will be described below inreference to the MD Trader™-style display that displays information,such as orders to buy or orders to sell, in association with pricelevels arranged along a common static axis or scale of prices. Thequantities associated with the orders to buy are preferably displayed ina bid display region, and quantities associated with orders to sell arepreferably displayed in an ask display region.

The quantities for each order being displayed via the MD Trader™-styledisplay may be displayed using any indicator types. For example, theindicator can be a graphical representation of quantity (e.g., colors,bars, etc.) or can simply be a number. The price levels are fixed inrelation to bid and ask display regions such that the indicatorsdisplayed in these regions can move relative to the display (e.g., thescreen). For example, the portion of the static axis that is beingviewed can be changed by scrolling up or down the axis or by entering arepositioning command. One embodiment using this type of display systemdisplays market information with respect to a vertical axis so that themarket information fluctuates logically up and down relative to the axisas the market prices fluctuate. It should be understood that while theexample embodiments for displaying traded quantity at price levels of atradable object are described in reference to the MD Trader™-styledisplay, the present invention is not limited to any particular displayand could be used with different or equivalent displays. Further, itshould be understood that many modifications to the MD Trader™-styledisplay are possible as well. For example, information related to atradable object may be displayed horizontally relative to a horizontallyoriented axis, n-dimensionally, or in any other fashion.

In a fast moving market, where varying price levels are trading (i.e.,bids and offers entering the market are being matched at differentprices), it is beneficial for a trader to be able to quickly enterorders and analyze market information. FIG. 2 illustrates a display 200that allows a trader to quickly enter orders at specific price levels byclicking next to a static axis of prices, displayed as a static column,and to quickly and easily see information such as working orders. Thedisplay 200 may be used to display traded quantity by price as will bedescribed in greater detail below.

The display may generally include a number of different regions that maybe used to display other market information in addition to the lasttraded quantities over one or more user-configurable time periods. Asshown in FIG. 2, the display 200 includes a price column 206, a bidquantity (“Bid Qty”) column 202, and an ask quantity (“Ask Qty”) column204. In the preferred embodiment, the three columns are shown indifferent colors so that a trader can distinguish them. Further, itshould be understood that a trader has the ability to control thearrangement of the columns on the display. For example, the Bid Qtycolumn 202 and the Ask Qty column 204 could be positioned to the left ofthe price column 200. However, it should be understood that otherarrangements are possible as well. The Bid Qty column 202 displays bidquantities, and the Ask Qty column 204 displays ask quantities. Therepresentative prices for a given tradable object are shown in the pricecolumn 206.

As mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, the price column 206 includesa static axis of prices. It should be understood that static, in thecontext of the embodiments described hereinafter, does not meanimmovable, but rather fixed in relation. For example, with a static axisof prices, the axis itself may be movable (e.g., via a recentering orrepositioning command), but the prices represented remain fixed inrelation to the market information, subject to consolidation orexpansion. Further, for example, the static axis of prices stays fixedeven when the market moves or when the market changes unless arepositioning command is received. It should be understood that in oneembodiment, the static axis of prices could be displayed in any manner,including in a row, on any angle, or n-dimensionally, without departingfrom the invention. Further, alternatively, prices do not need to bedisplayed.

It should be understood that the display 200 is not limited to thecolumns and information described in reference to FIG. 2, and variousother information may be presented in relation to the display 200. Moreinformation relating to the X_TRADER® and the MD Trader™-style displayare described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/590,692, entitled“Click Based Trading With Intuitive Grid Display of Market Depth,” filedon Jun. 9, 2000, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/971,087, entitled“Click Based Trading With Intuitive Grid Display of Market Depth andPrice Consolidation,” filed on Oct. 5, 2001, and U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/260,643, entitled “System and Method For Displaying HighestAnd Lowest Traded Prices Of Tradable Object,” filed on Sep. 30, 2002,the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Moreover,the trading application may implement tools for trading tradable objectsthat are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/125,894, filedon Apr. 19, 2002, entitled “Trading Tools for Electronic Trading,” thecontents of which are incorporated herein by reference. The specificfeatures of the embodiments of a display as in FIG. 2 are an example ofone embodiment of a screen that can be used with the present invention.It should be understood that the present invention is not limited,however, to such a screen display, and could be used with any type ofscreen display.

Volume by Price During User-Configurable Time Periods

As mentioned earlier, one of the features that are often displayed to atrader via a trading interface is the LTQ, which is typically associatedwith an LTP. The LTQ generally reflects the quantity of the last matchperformed by the exchange's matching engine, while the LTP generallyreflects the price level of the match. When a trader enters an order,the trader may specify a price and a quantity for the order that can bea buy or a sell. When filling the order, the matching engine matches theorder against all or part of one or more other orders. For example, abuy order at a specified price level may be matched with a correspondingsell. It should be understood that an order may be matched againstseveral orders, either at one or multiple price levels, and an order maybe matched against portions of one or more orders.

In addition to displaying the LTQ, the trading screen may also displaythe total traded quantity (“TTQ”) that has been traded for that tradableobject at all price levels during a trading day. Additionally, TTQ canalso be displayed per each price level, often referred to as a TTQ atprice. However, such a display, while allowing a trader to view thetotal volume for the entire trading day, does not enable the trader tomonitor market trends and conditions related to the volume that havebeen traded during the most recent time period or any other time periodthat the trader may consider useful. Using the existing total tradedquantity display, a trader will not be able to determine if the tradedvolume at a certain price level corresponds to the volume that has beentraded a few minutes or a few hours ago, thus possibly causing thetrader to misjudge trading conditions or market trends. According toexample embodiments, instead of or in addition to displaying the totaltraded quantity for the entire trading day, the trading screen may alsodisplay quantity related information during one or more userconfigurable time periods, such as a time period corresponding to thelast 10 minutes or last hour, for example.

In one embodiment, a trading application on a client terminal, agateway, or any other network entity, may receive market updates from anexchange and use the information provided in the updates to determinetraded quantity related information. Exchanges generally provide marketupdates using a variety of different methods that may affect a method ofcalculating traded quantities, and display thereof. According to onemethod, the exchange may provide periodic updates of market informationto the connected client terminals. In such an embodiment, the exchangecan provide updates at predetermined time intervals, and each update canreflect the changes in the market that occurred during the predeterminedtime interval. Exchanges such as Eurex provide updates using thismethod. According to a second method, the exchange may provide an updateeach time the market changes. Exchanges such as the London InternationalFinancial Futures and Options Exchange (“LIFFE”), the Chicago MercantileExchange (“CME”), and Island ECN provide updates using this method. Forexample, if three subsequent fills of 5, 5, and 12 are detected for thesame price level, a LIFFE exchange may provide three subsequent updatesincluding the traded quantities of 5, 5, and 12 and the price level atwhich the trades were executed. However, a Eurex exchange, instead ofproviding an update each time the market changes, may provide threeupdates at the predetermined time intervals, and the updates may specifythe traded quantities of 5, 10, and 22 reflecting the change in themarket at that price level.

An exchange can provide market updates related to one or more tradableobjects, for example, by sending data structures to its client devices.The data structures can be sent through intermediate devices, such asgateways, and the intermediate devices may reformat the data structuresbefore ultimately providing them to the client devices. Generally, eachclient device receives a single data structure that includes differentmarket information, such as the LTQ, TTQ, last traded price, bid/askamounts at each price level, market depth, and other information.Alternatively, this information can be provided to a client device usingmore than one data structure. Each exchange may use a different type ofdata structure and may provide different information. For an exchangethat provides continual updates, a data structure may be transmittedeach time the market changes, such as when a trade is executed. For anexchange that provides updates at predetermined time intervals, the datastructure can be provided to the client devices at the predeterminedintervals with no data structures sent that reflect intervening marketchanges.

While the predetermined intervals can be set and varied by exchanges, anexchange may provide the market updates, for example, every 1-2 seconds.It should be understood that this interval is only an example, and anexchange may use a longer or shorter time interval. By providinginformation at intervals, the exchange can reduce the bandwidth used totransmit data structures to its client devices. Therefore, for a heaviermarket usage, the exchange may provide the market updates moreinfrequently in order to conserve bandwidth. For fewer users or lightermarket volume, the exchange may decide to provide the market updatesmore frequently, and the intervals may vary based on the particularexchange, and may be dynamically altered by the exchange during aconnection with the exchange.

According to an example embodiment, for an exchange that providesupdates each time the market changes, the trading application wouldreceive an update for each market change. Thus, for each match, thetrading application would receive an update that includes an LTQ valuefor that match. The total traded quantity over a predetermined timeperiod may be then computed by summing the received LTQ values.Alternatively, if such an exchange provides TTQ at each price level, thetrading application could instead compute a difference between the lasttwo TTQ for each price level and input the quantity to a bucketcorresponding to the most recent time period. It should be understoodthat the trading application may first buffer the LTQ values, and thensum the values corresponding to one or more user configurable timeperiods.

The traded quantity data that is received from an exchange may beprocessed using many different methods. For example, when the exchangeprovides updates each time the market changes, the trading applicationmay buffer the received LTQ in a number of buckets, where each bucket isassociated with a predetermined time period. For example, when thetrading application displays traded quantities for the last five minutesof trading, the trading application may store the received data in thebuckets of 1 minute each. In such an embodiment, the first bucket maycorrespond to the current time (“t”), the second bucket may correspondto the previous 1 minute (“t−1”), the third bucket may correspond to oneminute before (t−2), etc. The trading application may then determine atraded quantity for the last five minutes by summing data stored in thebuckets corresponding to times t−1, t−2, t−3, t−4, and t−5,respectively. When one minute is up, the data being stored in thebuckets t−5, t−4, t−3, t−2, t−1, and t may be dynamically shifted onebucket down. For example, using such a method, the data stored in thebucket t−5 may be shifted to a bucket t−6, etc., until the data storedin the bucket “t” is shifted to the bucket t−1, thus effectivelyemptying the first bucket corresponding to the most current time period.In such an embodiment, the trading application may update the tradedquantity being displayed via the trading interface every minute, oreffectively every time the data is shifted between the buckets for everybuckets corresponding to the time periods corresponding to the timebefore the current or “t” time period. Therefore, the displayedquantities corresponding to the current time period may effectively keepchanging based on the updates being received from an exchange, while thetraded quantities corresponding to the earlier time periods may beshifted between the buckets corresponding to each time period.

It should be understood that any number of buckets can be used, and eachbucket may correspond to a larger or smaller time interval. Further, forexample, instead of having a large number of buckets, a predeterminednumber of buckets can be used where buckets 1 through N−1 may be usedfor storing data corresponding to a preset time interval, such as thelast 60 minutes, while the last bucket, the Nth bucket, may providemeans for storing data corresponding to the rest of the day. In such anembodiment, every time data is shifted from the N−1 bucket, the data maybe stored in the Nth bucket. Further, alternatively, instead of shiftingdata between the buckets, a new bucket may be created to store tradedquantity values corresponding to the most recent time interval, and datain the last bucket may be discarded or stored in the bucketcorresponding to the rest of the day.

The total volume by price can be calculated using many methods, and themethod applied may depend on what information is provided in the updatethat is received from an exchange. As mentioned in the precedingparagraphs, if an exchange sends updates every time a new trade isdetected, the trading application may sum LTQ values specified in eachupdate to determine the total traded quantity value for preset timeperiods corresponding to each price level. However, if an exchangeprovides periodic updates, the trading application might use not onlythe LTQ but also the TTQ since the start of the trading day specified ineach update to determine the total traded volume that has been tradedduring one or more time periods, the embodiments of which are describedhereinafter.

When an exchange provides periodic updates, one periodic update mayinclude updated market information as a result of several differentmarket events, but it would only include one LTQ for the most recentmatch performed by the exchange's matching engine. If such a method ofsending updates is used by an exchange, the trading application may notreceive an LTQ for each match that has occurred during a time intervalbetween two updates, thus preventing the trading application from simplysumming the received LTQs. In such an embodiment, the tradingapplication may estimate the LTQ that has occurred during the timebetween the updates by comparing the TTQ in the last update with the TTQin the previous update. It should be understood that these TTQscorrespond to TTQs associated with the entire trading day and correspondto all prices. For example, if the first update includes an LTQ of 10 atthe LTP of 100, and the TTQ of 110, and the next update includes an LTQof 22 at the same LTP of 100, and the TTQ of 122, the tradingapplication may use the received LTQs to determine that during the timeinterval between the two updates the quantity of 12 (i.e., 22−10) hasbeen traded at the LTP of 100. Then, the trading application may verifythe LTQ value at the LTP of 100 by comparing the two TTQs. Using thelast two TTQs, the trading application may determine that the change inthe TTQ is 12, thus confirming that there have been no missed fillsbetween the received updates. In such an embodiment, therefore, thedifference between two TTQs may be used to estimate that the differencein two LTQs applies to the same price.

However, using another example, the trading application may receive afirst update including an LTQ of 22 at the LTP of 100, and the TTQ of122. Subsequently, the trading application may receive a second updateincluding an LTQ of 24 at the LTP of 100, and the TTQ of 153. Using thereceived updates, the trading application may use the two LTQs todetermine that the quantity of 2 has been traded at the LTP of 100during the time interval between the received updates. However, usingthe TTQs, the trading application may determine that the total tradedquantity has changed by 31 (i.e., the current TTQ minus the previousTTQ), thus indicating that the quantity of 24 has been traded at the LTPof 100, and that the quantity of 7 has been traded at a price levelother than 100, such as 101, 99, or some other price level. In such anembodiment, the trading application may add the quantity of 7 to thequantities at the price level of 100. However, it should be understoodthat different embodiments are possible as well. For example, theadditional quantity of 7 may be added to the quantities at the pricelevels other than the LTP, such as a price level one or more tickshigher/lower from the LTP. Alternatively, the quantity of 7 may bedistributed between one or more price levels and such a user-definedalgorithm may control how the quantity is distributed between two ormore price levels. Further, it should be understood that the presentinvention is not limited to the methods of determining traded quantitiesdescribed above, and different methods could also be used.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method 300 for determining anddisplaying traded quantity related information for at least one timeperiod. The method 300 may be performed by a trading application locatedon a client device, a gateway, or any other network entity that directlyor indirectly receives market updates from an exchange.

At step 302, a trading application receives at least one time periodduring which it should monitor traded quantities. It should beunderstood that the at least one time period may be user configurable orpreset by the application. A trader may specify one or more time periodsusing any means, such as a graphical interface, for example. Thegraphical interface can specify one or more default time period values,and a trader may then alter the default values to any desirable value.Alternatively, it is also possible that the trading software may specifya number of static user-selectable time periods. In such an embodiment,the trader may select one or more desired time periods from the list ofavailable time periods.

Further, a trader may reset each time period by selecting apredetermined user selection input or by entering a predetermined keycombination. When the trading application detects such an input, thetrading application may reset the start of one or more time periods anddetermine traded quantity values starting from the time of receiving theuser selection input. Alternatively, resetting of the time period may beperformed automatically upon detecting one or more external userconfigurable triggers. For example, a trigger may include atrader-related trigger such as detecting a flat/long/short position of atrader, a market-related trigger such as detection of a market movement,or a combination thereof.

At step 304, a trading application receives from an exchange a pluralityof market updates related to a tradable object. At step 306, the tradingapplication determines a quantity that has been traded during the atleast one time period at a plurality of price levels. The tradingapplication may determine the traded quantity for one or more timeperiods using the methods described above.

At step 308, the trading application displays the traded quantity foreach of the user defined time periods via a graphical interface.According to the preferred embodiment, the traded quantities determinedfor one or more user configurable time periods at one or more pricelevels are displayed in relation to a static axis of prices. However, itshould be understood that different embodiments are possible as well,and the quantities may be displayed in any manner including a graphicaland/or numerical format. Further, it should be understood that providingtraded quantities to a user is not limited to using graphicalrepresentations, and any type of output such as audio announcements ortext could be used as well.

At step 310, the trading application periodically updates the displayedquantities for the user defined time periods based on market updatesthat are received from the exchange. In one embodiment, for example, auser defined time period may be associated with a number of bucketsarranged to store data for a shorter time periods. For example, oneminute time period may be associated with ten buckets for storing dataassociated with 6 seconds within that minute. In such an embodiment, thedisplayed quantity may be updated every 6 seconds, or a multiple of the6 second interval, where data is shifted between buckets as explainedabove. It should be understood that this is only an example, anddifferent embodiments are possible as well. Further, a user mayconfigure how often the data displayed for each user defined time periodis updated. Further, it should be understood that traded quantity dataassociated with the most recent time period may be updated dynamicallyand every time the trading application receives a new update from anexchange.

FIG. 4 is an example embodiment of a trading interface 400 that may beused to display traded quantity, or volume, at a plurality of pricelevels for a plurality of user configurable time periods. It should beunderstood that the trading interface 400 is not limited to displayingthe illustrated information, and different or additional market/traderrelated information may be displayed via the interface 400.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, the trading interface 400 includes fourcolumns. In addition to the three columns including the bid quantitycolumn 202, the ask quantity column 204, and the price column 206 thathave been described in reference to FIG. 2, the trading interface 400includes a volume by price column 402 that may be used to display tradedquantities for a plurality of user configurable time periods in relationto the static axis of prices. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the userconfigurable time periods include a 2 minute time period, a 5 minutetime period, and a 15 minute time period.

The quantities associated with each time period are displayed using agrouped bar chart that displays traded quantities for different timeintervals by means of adjacent horizontal bars at each price level. Todistinguish traded quantities associated with each time interval, thebars corresponding to different time intervals may be displayed usingdifferent colors or different graphical patterns. It should beunderstood that the colors or graphical patterns used for each timeperiod may be user configurable. Further, in addition to displayingtraded quantities for each user configurable time period in a graphicalformat, numerical quantities could also be displayed in relation to eachor some bars. Alternatively, a numerical scale may be displayed inrelation to the bar chart so that a trader can use the scale to read thequantity value corresponding to each bar. Further, it should beunderstood that traded quantities corresponding to each time period maybe displayed in any order, and the arrangement of the bars may be userconfigurable. For example, traded quantities associated with the longesttime period may be displayed in the upper bar.

FIG. 5 is another example embodiment of a trading interface 500 that maybe used to display traded quantities that may be determined for aplurality of user configurable time periods. Similarly to the precedingFigure, the trading interface includes the bid quantity column 202, theask quantity column 204, the price column 206, and the volume by pricecolumn 502.

The volume by price column 502 displays traded quantities for two timeperiods including the last two minutes and two minutes before the mostrecent two minutes, thus effectively displaying traded quantities duringthe last four minutes of trading. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG.5, the traded quantities are displayed using a subdivided bar chart, andthe quantities corresponding to different time periods are displayed onthe same bar that is divided into sub-bars corresponding to each timeperiod. It should be understood that instead of displaying the mostrecent time period on the most outer sub-bar, the quantities associatedwith that time period may be displayed on the first sub-bar, or a barcorresponding to the zero line of a numerical scale, so that the latestquantity can be read directly from the scale. Many different orequivalent embodiments are possible as well. Further, alternatively,instead of displaying bars corresponding to each time period, a linearcontour or outline of all bars, as illustrated in FIG. 5.

It should be understood that the traded quantities for a plurality oftime periods may be displayed in a row format rather than columns, orthe grid may be eliminated entirely and the information presentedgraphically. As one alternative example, the information may bepresented in a row display. For example, the row display may be a staticprice display in which the row includes a price, a bid quantity, an askquantity, and the traded quantity information, and the display mayinclude multiple rows corresponding to multiple price levels. Further,alternatively, the trading interface may not display the price column,and different information may be displayed instead. Further, the presentinvention is not limited to the two-dimensional displays, but rather anynumber of dimensions may be used to display traded quantities during anumber of time periods for a particular price level. Further, it shouldbe understood that the present invention is not limited to interfacesthat display traded quantities in a graphical format. Alternatively, orin addition to the graphical representation, numerical representationscould also be used. Various other modifications could also be made.

In addition to displaying total traded quantities for a plurality ofprice levels and one or more user configurable time periods, the tradinginterface may also distinguish whether the traded quantity is associatedwith a buying or selling activity. In one embodiment, the tradedapplication may determine if a transaction corresponds to a sell or abuy using the LTP and the inside market information provided in thereceived update. For example, if the LTP received in an update is equalto the current bid, then the traded application may consider the LTQ asa sell, since an offer matched the price level of the existing bid.Thus, if an offer initiates the transaction, the traded quantity may beconsidered a sell. Similarly, if the LTP is equal to or higher than thecurrent ask then the traded application may consider the correspondingLTQ as a buy, since a bid matched a pending offer. Thus, if a quantityhas been traded at a price level equal to or higher than the best ask,the quantity may be added to the total buy volume. Similarly, if aquantity has been traded at a price level equal to or lower than thebest bid, the quantity may be added to the total sell volume. The tradedquantities corresponding to buys and sells may be then displayed to auser via a trading application. Further, in case the exchange reportsthe new bid/ask before the LTP, the trading application may keep trackof the previous bid/ask.

However, if the trading application receives updates less frequently,and the updates correspond to a snapshot of the market rather thanmarket updates that are sent every time the market changes, the tradingapplication may not be able to determine whether the traded quantitycorresponds to a buy or a sell based on the received data. For example,if a quantity is traded at a price level between the known inside marketprice levels, the trading application might not be able to classify suchquantity as either a buy or a sell. In such an embodiment, the tradingapplication may classify such a quantity as a “Rest” or “Other”quantity. Such quantity may be displayed in addition to the known buysand sells so that a traded may visually approximate the total tradedquantity at each price level during one or more time intervals.

FIG. 6 is an example embodiment of a trading interface 600 that may beused to display buy and sell traded quantities at a plurality of pricelevels for a plurality of user configurable time periods.

The trading interface 600 includes the bid quantity region 202, the askquantity region 204, the price region 206, and a volume by price region602. The volume by price region 602 displays traded quantitiesassociated with buys 604 and sells 606 using a split bar graph, wherebuy/sell traded quantities 612 and 610 are associated with a first timeperiod, and buy/sell traded quantities 614 and 608 are associated with asecond time period. For example, the buy/sell traded quantities 612 and610 may correspond to the last 5 minutes of the trading activity, andthe buy/sell traded quantities 614 and 608 may correspond to 5 minutesbefore the last 5 minutes. As explained in earlier paragraphs, it shouldbe understood that a trader may configure time periods for which thetrading application may determine and display traded quantitiesassociated with buys or sells. Further, using the buy and sell tradedquantity graphs, a trader may determine the total traded quantity byvisually adding the buy and sell traded quantity for each time period.For example, the buy traded quantity 612 and the sell traded quantity610, when added, correspond to the total traded quantity during the timeperiod corresponding to both, such as the last 5 minutes of tradingactivity, for example. Further, a numerical scale may be displayed oneach side of the graph so that a trader can easily read tradedquantities corresponding to buys and sells. It should be understood thatthe buy and sell quantities may be displayed on the same side, and thebuys and sells may be color-coded. For example, buys and sells may bedisplayed on a graphical interface such as the one illustrated in FIG.5. In such an embodiment, each bar may be subdivided and color-coded torepresent buys and sells.

Alternatively, instead of displaying buys and sells, only one group oftraded quantities such as buys or sells may be displayed in addition tothe total traded quantity. It should be understood that a user mayconfigure what is displayed via the trading interface. For example, auser may decide that he/she wants to view only traded buys, only tradedsells, or a combination of the traded buys and the total traded quantityat each price level and during one or more defined time periods.

FIG. 7 is an example embodiment of a trading interface 700 that may beused to display traded quantities at a plurality of price levels whereeach traded quantity during a user configured time period may beidentified as a buy or a sell. The trading interface 700, in addition tothe bid quantity, ask quantity, and price columns 202, 204, and 206,includes a volume by price column 702. In addition to displaying thetotal traded quantity using a bar chart representation, each bar maydisplay whether each trade during the time period was a buy or a sell.Further, it should be understood that each box associated with a buy ora sell may correspond to a predetermined quantity, such as a quantity of5, 10, or any other user configurable quantity, or simply each contract.Additionally, buys and sells may be displayed using any graphical,color-coded representation, and those skilled in the art will understandthat the same information may be displayed using many different ways.

FIG. 8 is an example embodiment of a trading interface 800 that may beused to display traded quantities at a plurality of price levelsaccording to another example embodiment using a graphical representationthat is similar to a candlestick graph.

The trading interface 800 includes the bid quantity, ask quantity, andprice columns 202, 204, and 206, and a volume by price column 802.However, instead of displaying traded quantities using a horizontal bargraph, the volume by price column 802 displays graph in a candlestickformat of total traded quantities, and each candlestick box correspondsto a preset or user-configurable time period. Further, using the exampleembodiment, a trader may see at what prices no quantity has been traded.However, unlike a typical candlestick box, which would only providehighest and lowest prices during the corresponding time period, eachcandlestick according to an example embodiment, displays quantities thathave been traded at any price level during the corresponding timeperiod. According to an embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, a candlestickbox corresponds to 20 seconds, and extends vertically up and downbetween the highest and lowest prices at which the quantities have beentraded. Further, each candlestick box shows the total traded volume foreach price level that was part of a time period. Using such a display, atrader can see the total traded volume at certain price levels duringeach time period, as well as price levels at which no quantity has beentraded during certain time periods. According to an example embodiment,as time continues to move, candlestick boxes may continue to shift tothe right, with each candlestick column's data moving to the column toits right as each time period expires. It should be understood that atrader may configure a time period as well as a number of candlestickboxes to be simultaneously displayed via the trading interface.

The candlestick implementation for displaying traded quantities is notlimited to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 8, and many modificationsare possible as well. For example, instead of displaying the tradedquantities to the right of the price column 802, the candlestick tradedquantity chart may be displayed on the left side instead, with the askand bid columns on the left side of the price column 802.

FIG. 9 is another example embodiment of a trading interface that may beused to display buy and sell traded quantities at a plurality of pricelevels according to another example embodiment using candlestickgraphical representation.

The trading application 900 includes the bid, ask, and price columns202, 204, and 206, and a volume by price column 902. Instead ofdisplaying the total traded quantities, the volume by price column 902displays total traded buys and sells for each price level duringuser-configurable time periods. For example, the quantities displayed inthe upper left portion of each box may correspond to the buy quantities,and the quantities displayed in the lower right portion of each box maycorrespond to the sell quantities. However, it should be understood thatmany different embodiments are possible and are not limited to thedisplay in FIG. 9. For example, the buy quantities may be displayedusing one color and the sell quantities may be displayed using anothercolor.

Further, it should be understood that the trading interface can displayany time-based values or derived time based values during anycombination of user controlled multiple time periods. Further, thetime-based values are not limited to a single source, and may bereceived from multiple sources, such as multiple exchanges.Additionally, prices may be calculated using other data, such as spreadprices for tradable objects being traded at the same or differentexchanges, and quantities may be derived using any user-configurablealgorithms, such as implied spread quantities within and across markets.Further, prices and quantities for user configurable time periods may becalculated using any user configurable algorithms or formulas, or marketprediction applications using any other inputs. Further, in addition tothe traded quantities, and buys/sells, the trading interface may displaybid/ask quantities during one or more user configurable time periods,un-traded bid quantities, un-traded ask quantities. Alternatively,instead of monitoring total quantities, the trading application maydetermine and display for a particular time period a maximum tradedquantity that may be determined based on absolute traded values beingreceived from the exchange. Further, alternatively, an average bid orask quantity could be displayed as well.

It should be understood that the above description of the preferredembodiments, alternative embodiments, and specific examples, are givenby way of illustration and should not be viewed as limiting. Further,many changes and modifications within the scope of the presentembodiments may be made without departing from the spirit thereof, andthe present invention includes such changes and modifications. Forexample, it should be understood that the randomization methodsdescribed above may be used separately, or in any combination specifiedby the user.

Further, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art thatmethods involved in the system and methods for displaying quantityinformation during a user configurable and shifting time period may beembodied in a computer program product that includes one or morecomputer readable media. For example, a computer readable medium caninclude a readable memory device, such as a hard drive device, CD-ROM, aDVD-ROM, or a computer diskette, having computer readable program codesegments stored thereon. The computer readable medium can also include acommunications or transmission medium, such as, a bus or a communicationlink, either optical, wired or wireless having program code segmentscarried thereon as digital or analog data signals.

The claims should not be read as limited to the described order orelements unless stated to that effect. Therefore, all embodiments thatcome within the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalentsthereto are claimed as the invention.

1. A method for displaying quantity related information associated witha tradable object in an electronic trading environment, the methodcomprising: defining a time period to be used to determine traded buy ortraded sell quantity related information associated with the tradableobject; determining at a computer device traded quantity relatedinformation for the time period at each of a plurality of price levelsat which the tradable object is traded on at least one exchange, whereinthe traded quantity related information for each price level during thetime period is determined using market updates being received from theat least one exchange; determining at a computer device whether thetraded quantity related information for the time period at each of theplurality of price levels comprises the traded buy quantity or thetraded sell quantity, wherein the traded buy quantity is determined whenan order to buy is used to match an order to sell pending at a pricelevel in an order book at the at least one exchange, and wherein thetraded sell quantity is determined when an order to sell is used tomatch an order to buy pending at a price level in the order book at theat least one exchange; when the traded quantity related informationcomprises the traded buy quantity, displaying for each price level alonga price axis of the plurality of price levels the traded buy quantityrelated information for the time period using a first graphicalrepresentation; when the traded quantity related information comprisesthe traded sell quantity, displaying for each price level along theprice axis of the plurality of price levels the traded sell quantityrelated information for the time period using a second graphicalrepresentation that is distinguishable from the first graphicalrepresentation; and dynamically updating at a computer device thedisplayed traded buy quantity related information and the traded sellquantity related information at each price level so that the displayedtraded buy or traded sell quantity reflects buy or sell quantity tradedat each price level during a moving window, wherein a size of the movingwindow is defined by the time period.
 2. A computer readable mediumhaving stored therein instructions to execute a method for displayingquantity related information associated with a tradable object in anelectronic trading environment, the method comprising: defining a timeperiod to be used to determine traded buy or traded sell quantityrelated information associated with the tradable object; determining ata computer device traded quantity related information for the timeperiod at each of a plurality of price levels at which the tradableobject is traded on at least one exchange, wherein the traded quantityrelated information for each price level during the time period isdetermined using market updates being received from the at least oneexchange; determining at a computer device whether the traded quantityrelated information for the time period at each of the plurality ofprice levels comprises the traded buy quantity or the traded sellquantity, wherein the traded buy quantity is determined when an order tobuy is used to match an order to sell pending at a price level in anorder book at the at least one exchange, and wherein the traded sellquantity is determined when an order to sell is used to match an orderto buy pending at a price level in the order book at the at least oneexchange; when the traded quantity related information comprises thetraded buy quantity, displaying for each price level along a price axisof the plurality of price levels the traded buy quantity relatedinformation for the time period using a first graphical representation;when the traded quantity related information comprises the traded sellquantity, displaying for each price level along the price axis of theplurality of price levels the traded sell quantity related informationfor the time period using a second graphical representation that isdistinguishable from the first graphical representation; and dynamicallyupdating at a computer device the displayed traded buy quantity relatedinformation and the traded sell quantity related information at eachprice level so that the displayed traded buy or traded sell quantityreflects buy or sell quantity traded at each price level during a movingwindow, wherein a size of the moving window is defined by the timeperiod.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the traded buy quantityrelated information associated with the tradable object comprises atraded buy quantity.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the traded sellquantity related information associated with the tradable objectcomprises a traded sell quantity.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein thetime period comprises a user configurable time period.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the traded quantity related information at each of theplurality of price levels is determined using a user-configurableformula.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying afirst graphical indicator to represent the traded buy quantity relatedinformation for the time period in association with each of theplurality of price levels; and displaying a second graphical indicatorto represent the traded sell quantity related information for the timeperiod in association with each of the plurality of price levels.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the first graphical indicator comprises afirst bar indicator representing the traded buy quantity relatedinformation for the time period in relation to each of the plurality ofprice levels, and wherein the second graphical indicator comprises asecond bar indicator representing the traded sell quantity relatedinformation for the time period in relation to each of the plurality ofprice levels.
 9. The method of claim 7, further comprising displaying anumerical representation associated with the traded buy quantity relatedinformation and the traded sell quantity related information at each ofthe plurality of price levels.
 10. A trading application configured toreceive a plurality of market updates for a tradable object from anexchange, determine a traded buy quantity and a traded sell quantity ateach of a plurality of price levels during a time period, and displaythe traded buy quantity using a first graphical representation andtraded sell quantity using a second graphical representation that isdistinguishable from the first graphical representation for each pricelevel in relation to the plurality of price levels along a price axis,wherein the traded buy quantity is determined when an order to buy isused to match an order to sell pending at a price level in an order bookat the exchange, and wherein the traded sell quantity is determined whenan order to sell is used to match an order to buy pending at a pricelevel in the order book at the exchange, wherein the trading applicationis further configured to dynamically update the displayed traded buyquantity and the displayed traded sell quantity using subsequent marketupdates so that the displayed traded buy and sell quantity for eachprice level reflects buy quantity and sell quantity traded during amoving window, wherein a size of the moving window is defined by thetime period.
 11. The trading application of claim 10, wherein thetrading application is configured to display the traded buy quantity andtraded sell quantity that have been traded at each of the plurality ofprice levels in relation to a static axis of prices.
 12. The tradingapplication of claim 10, wherein the time period comprises auser-configurable time period.
 13. The trading application of claim 10,wherein the trading application is further configured to determine atraded buy quantity and a traded sell quantity for each of the pluralityof price levels during a plurality of time periods, and to display thetraded quantities for the plurality of time periods.
 14. The method ofclaim 8, wherein a size of the first bar indicator is dynamicallyincreased or decreased as the traded buy quantity during the definedtime period changes, and wherein a size of the second bar indicator isdynamically increased or decreased as the traded sell quantity duringthe defined time period changes.
 15. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: displaying a first bar at a first price level to representtraded buy quantity related information associated with a first timeperiod; displaying a second bar at the first price level to representtraded buy quantity related information associated with a second timeperiod; displaying a third bar at the first price level to representtraded sell quantity related information associated with the first timeperiod; and displaying a fourth bar at the first price level torepresent traded sell quantity related information associated with thesecond time period.
 16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:using the first bar and the second bar at the first price level torepresent traded buy quantity during a combined time period comprisingthe first time period and the second time period; and using the thirdbar and the fourth bar at the first price level to represent traded sellquantity during the combined time period.
 17. The method of claim 16,further comprising: using a first graphical format in relation to thefirst bar; using a second graphical format in relation to the secondbar; using a third graphical format in relation to the third bar; andusing a fourth graphical format in relation to the fourth bar.
 18. Themethod of claim 15, wherein the first and second bars are aligned, andwherein the third and fourth bars are aligned.
 19. The method of claim15, further comprising: as new market updates are received and newtraded buy quantity is detected, dynamically shifting old data from thefirst bar to the second bar such that the old data previously used inrelation to the first bar is moved to the second bar for determiningtraded buy quantity related information in relation to the second timeperiod; and as new market updates are received and new traded sellquantity is detected, dynamically shifting old data from the third barto the fourth bar such that old data previously used in relation to thethird bar is moved to the fourth bar for determining traded sellquantity related information in relation to the second time period. 20.The method of claim 19, further comprising: as the new market updatesare received, using the new market updates to determine new traded buyquantity and new traded sell quantity corresponding to a new timeperiod.
 21. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying aprice axis.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the price axis isstatic.
 23. The method of claim 21, further comprising: displaying theplurality of price levels in relation to the price axis.
 24. The methodof claim 21, further comprising: dynamically displaying a firstindicator representing quantity associated with at least one trade orderto buy the tradeable object at a first price level; and dynamicallydisplaying a second indicator representing quantity associated with atleast one trade order to sell the tradeable object at a second pricelevel.